Indian American entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, spearheading Donald Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) with Tesla CEO Elon Musk, is planning to make a bid for Ohio governor, according to a media report.
Ramaswamy, who briefly challenged Trump during the Republican presidential primaries, intends to formally announce his bid by the last week in January, Politico reported citing an unnamed “person close to the matter.”
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Following the election, Ramaswamy informed members of the transition that he planned to run for governor, it said citing a person familiar with the transition. His decision accelerated when Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine passed over Ramaswamy to replace Vice President-elect JD Vance in the Senate on Friday, picking instead his own Lt. Gov. Jon Husted, Politico suggested.
Ahead of his bid for Ohio governor, Ramaswamy could withdraw from DOGE, which aims to reduce government spending by up to $2 trillion by July 4, 2026 — by which time his Ohio gubernatorial campaign will need to be well underway.
Privately, some in Trump’s world see Ramaswamy’s nascent gubernatorial campaign as a way to clear a path for Musk to do his own work at the agency without him, Politico said citing unnamed “multiple people who discussed Ramaswamy and the inner workings of DOGE.”
“Elon basically runs the show,” an informal adviser to Trump was quoted as saying. “Time is their biggest enemy. We’ll see,” he added.
Politico also cited Rep. Ro Khanna, the Indian American California Democrat representing Silicon Valley, who has fostered a relationship with Musk over the last decade and has occasionally defended Ramaswamy, as saying DOGE remains an open question.
“What I have said is Democrats should articulate our own vision on how we cut waste in government and make sure investments are in the interest of the American people, and I have outlined places in the Defense [budget] five primes [the five biggest DOD contractors] where we can make these cuts,” Khanna was quoted as saying. “But in terms of what DOGE is going to do, it’s currently unclear.”
Musk has already dialed back expectations, Politico suggested. “I think we’ll try for $2 trillion [in savings], I think that’s like the best-case outcome,” Musk recently told Stagwell CEO Mark Penn, the former adviser to Bill Clinton. “But I do think that you kind of have to have some overage. If you try for two trillion, you have a good shot at getting one.”
READ: Elon Musk discards ‘Kekius Maximus’ title after Cybertruck explodes at Trump Hotel (January 3, 2025)
On Saturday, Ramaswamy showed up at an all-hands DOGE meeting at the SpaceX headquarters in Washington, Politico reported citing sources. Musk was not present.
The breakdown of labor between Musk and Ramaswamy, according to Politico’s source, was that Musk focused on the big picture while Ramaswamy focused on deregulation; the rest of the staff will focus on implementation. Steve Davis, Musk’s right hand man at SpaceX, functions as his DOGE lieutenant, while Brad Smith, a healthcare entrepreneur and Rhodes Scholar, is Ramaswamy’s main point of contact.
Politico said a representative for Musk, a spokesperson for the transition as also a spokesperson for Ramaswamy declined its request for comment.